Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Department of Transportation
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Construction Issues
Gery Bauman
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration
Office phone 740-587-0275
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Applicable facts
No failures in unrepaired mechanized girth welds
Leaks found in repaired mechanized girth welds
Leaks found in manual cellulosic girth welds
Leaks found in repaired manual cellulosic girth welds
A failed manual road bore tie-in weld was found with a cleaning pig just
prior to hydrotest.
Another failure found during hydrotest was due to overstressing the root
bead by movement which caused a crack that was welded over hinging
All of the failures have been found in X-70 or X-80 pipe 20 or greater in
diameter
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Additional investigations
Problems detected
Cracked repaired mechanized welds
Cracked road bore tie-in welds
Repaired welds with non-crack defects
Smart pigging programs underway
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Hydrogen
Hardness
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Cross section of
a HAC Pipeline
Weld
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Cross section of a
HAC Pipeline
Repair Weld
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Microstructure hardness
Historically values greater than 350 HV should be evaluated
for the risk of hydrogen assisted cracking
Investigations have revealed weld hardness values of the
failed welds within the range of 200 to 260 HV.
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Mechanized
Low hydrogen process
Solutions
In a high strength pipeline weld use low hydrogen welding
process (GMAW FCAW - E XX18 E XX45)
If using cellulosic electrodes - Allow time at temperature to
allow hydrogen to diffuse from the weld (higher preheat
temperatures, preheat maintenance, minimum interpass
temperature, avoid weld interruption)
Minimize installation stresses
Optimize weld metal electrode selection
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Solutions (cont)
Welders must follow welding procedures
Verify welder performance with welding inspection
Employ competent welding inspectors
Preheat verification
Avoid accelerated weld cooling
Delay NDT to allow for the possibility of delayed hydrogen
assisted cracking to be detected
Optimize radiographic procedures for crack detection
Verify NDT technicians knowledge, skills, abilities
Audit the NDT technicians work
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Welding recommendations
Develop low hydrogen welding procedures
Welding procedures that utilize cellulosic electrodes should
specify adequate preheat and a minimum interpass
temperature.
In lieu of specifying a minimum interpass temperature
careful attention should be undertaken regarding time
between completion of the root bead, the start of the
second bead and the maximum time between the
completion of the second bead and the start of other beads.
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Porosity
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Preheat
Heating the weld joint before welding
Temperature of the weld joint immediately before the arc is
struck. (Arc start temperature)
Procedures can state Infrared Thermometer, Contact
Pyrometer, or Temperature Indicating Crayon
Range of preheat values found in the welding procedure
Various heat application methods propane torch, liquid
propane torch, oxyacetylene rosebud, induction
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Contact pyrometers
and infrared
thermometers can be
also used to verify
preheat.
Caution infrared
thermometers are not
accurate on sand
blasted surfaces and
values can change
based on the
emissivity of the weld
area
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Electrical Characteristics
Values should be
within the ranges
specified on the
welding procedure
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Interpass Temperature
The temperature at a location near the start position of the
welding arc(s) recorded immediately before initiating
consecutive pass or passes. (from API 1104 Appendix A)
Minimum Interpass Temperature lowest temperature
allowed to start welding most times it is the preheat
temperature
Maximum Interpass Temperature highest temperature
allowed to start welding.
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Inspection
Large variation in inspector competency
What are the inspectors responsibilities?
Welding inspector must be knowledgeable and
competent
Verify welding procedure is followed
Observe
Document
Report
Correct
Work stoppage
Not fall asleep in the pickup truck
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Radiography
Image Quality Indicators
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Radiographic Requirement
Both Parts 192 and 195 require a certain
percentage (based on location or class location)
of welds be nondestructively tested and that a
sample of a welders daily work product must be
nondestructively tested.
If the radiographs image quality indicators are
not acceptable, then there may be insufficient
numbers of radiographs to meet the percentage
and/or daily requirements of the applicable code
or operators construction procedures.
Use of API 1104 Appendix A requires essentially
100% NDT - AUT
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192.231
Protection from
weather.
The welding
operation must be
protected from
weather conditions
that would impair
the quality of the
completed weld.
Wind blowing
shielding gases,
rain quenching
welds, cold pipe
impacts preheat
and minimum
interpass
temperature.
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